| I am a vintage girl. My mom and I have never been big shoppers, but we LOVE vintage and consignment shopping. We usually never need anything, so we are sticklers when it comes to paying full price. One of our most popular shopping lines? "Oh that's so pretty! [check price tag] Eh, it's not that pretty." My mom and I are fortunate that we fit into a lot of each other's clothes. There's been a fair number of times I've gone into school and been complimented on a shirt or sweater that I stole from my mom's closet that morning. It works both ways, though. Honestly, I don't know what we're going to do when I go to college in a few years. |
The best part about being able to share clothes and accessories is that we get double-use out of many of the things we buy. Rarely do I buy something unless I know my mom can wear it too. Not so long ago we bought this great sunhat. Who knows when we'll wear it? But it's fun to have, and it was on sale for $15. Our rule of thumb is that if we see something we like but we don't need it, then it's worth it if we can wear it enough times so it's only $1 for every time we wear it. With both of us sharing it, that means we each only have to wear it seven or eight times––and hats last forever!
I guess you can say I've had this vision for the past couple of weeks of walking around downtown somewhere in a sundress. All summer my wardrobe has been running shorts, a tank top, sneakers, and a ponytail. With my family, it is best to be prepared for a run, swim, or bike ride at any given time. But I have all these other summer clothes that I hardly got to wear, and with August tick-ticking away, I figured it was about time to stop waiting around for a special occasion and make one.
So today, after a sweaty midday run and swim, my mom and I drove to a cute downtown in Cape Cod and played "tourist," fashioning sundresses, sandals, curled eyelashes, and Mom wearing the sunhat. She showed me this hidden treasure trove of old vintage clothing called "Vintage in Vogue." It was a theater geek's dream, and it was like I was shopping for "Pirates of Penzance" all over again. Three-tier cake hats, an entire jungle of furs, and the entire wardrobe of Whoville. It was like taking a step back in time...or a leap into the future.
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| This was my favorite. But wait, you think it's just a jacket and tie? |
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| Think again: it's a suit! This thing seriously belonged in Wonderland.
My mom and I had a blast trying on clothes, and boy, did we find some interesting ones.
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| I found this stuff in the dressing room and I couldn't resist! |
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No joke, Mom was trying to find an occasion she could wear this. You think it's a dress? Hah! Think again. It's a one-piece suit...the bottom is shorts. Thank goodness it was a a little too tight in the shoulders :)
Do you like vintage and consignment shopping? Shopping at yard sales? Thrift stores? I personally think it's fun to wear someone else's clothes. Every piece of clothing has a story, and especially when you get it from a consignment or vintage or thrift store, the stories are unimaginable. But, my all-time favorite is still hand-me-downs...hands down.
Aside from the shopping, what I loved most about the trip was that we just dressed up for ourselves. I complimented a woman at the assistant living home once about how she always looks so dressed up. 10 o'clock in the morning I'm there, and she's sitting on the porch crocheting with her Dolly Parton hair and Legally Blonde pink attire (we're talking pink pants, pink blouse, pink blazer, pink shoes, pink lips, and pink jewelry galore.) This woman has nowhere to go, no one to meet, no one to impress. As she put it, she dresses up for herself, because it makes her feel good. Later this evening we went to see a musical, and I curled my hair. Could I have gotten ahead on more summer reading? Sure! But I just really wanted to curl my hair.
Do you like to dress up? I go back and forth, but I think since I was little there's always been a part of me that loved to dress up and perform. What I love most about being a part of my school's drama program is that it gives me the opportunity to be someone I'm not. On stage, the possibilities are endless.
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2 comments:
Vintage clothes and thrift shops are so fun! Whenever I go I'm always looking for movie costumes, and sometimes i find something really cute for me. And I always love dressing up. Especially for dance. Like you said, you get to be a completely different charscter and it is so much fun. In Nutcracker I had to be the queen and boss everyone around, even though I'm usually one of the quieter ones in class. It's amazing how costumes can change you :)
Absolutely! When I was auditioning for "The Wiz," I was asked to improv with this other girl. She was supposed to be the sweet, "Dorothy-like" character, and I had to be a witchier character. Those were the only directions we were given...we just had to roll with it! I didn't know what I do (improv acting always intimidates me), so I just started yelling about random things :P It certainly was a different side of me that most people had never seen!
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